Austrian government debt continued to rise in the third quarter of this year. On September 30, the national debt amounted to 398.4 billion euros, CBS announced on Monday. That is 3.6 billion euros more than at the end of last quarter.
The government deficit recently amounted to 4.5 billion euros or 3.8 percent of GDP.
Far away from the Maastricht guidelines
“Austria continued to accumulate debt in the third quarter of 2024,” said Tobias Thomas, managing director of Statistics Austria. “At the same time, the debt ratio, i.e. the ratio between government debt and economic output, increased from 82.9 percent in the second quarter of 2024 to the current 83.2 percent, further deviating from the Maastricht target of 60 percent.”
Of the debt, 354.1 billion euros consisted of bonds, 42.3 billion euros in loans and 2.0 billion euros in deposits
Federal sector with the largest increase
The largest increase in public debt affected the federal sector: new obligations were added amounting to 1.8 billion euros. The increase can mainly be attributed to the state railway infrastructure units, which, according to the Austrian CBS, have invested in infrastructure with newly taken out debt.
The state and municipal sectors have also seen a rise in debt, mainly to finance current deficits.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
